I am lucky enough to be a California Certified Shorthand Reporter which allows me to report throughout the state, INCLUDING SAN FRANCISCO.  Sometimes I look at my CA CSR as a license to travel.  I love adventure, and traveling to different cities to work is super fun.

 If you ask most people on the planet if they like San Francisco, the answer is ‘Yes.”  There is fantastic shopping, exotic restaurants, and visually the city is interesting everywhere you look.

 If I am working on a case that warrants travel (great/fun client, realtime, rough drafts, and interesting subject matter) I will assign myself to that job.  Southwest Airlines has inexpensive flights to San Francisco and Oakland all day long, and now I have mastered taking BART from SFO to the financial district.  The key to success using BART is to know which station to get off at and don’t wait too long to get off of your seat, collect your gear, and make way for the door.  The doors open and close FAST.  (One time I ended up in Oakland by accident and had to go back.  It was embarrassing.)

 Whenever I court report in San Francisco I wear black.  The sharp, professional-looking women walking up and down Montgomery and Battery wear black pantsuits, black shoes, and have a big black bag.  Their clothing is very tailored and fit beautifully.  (I want to fit in and not look like a San Diegan just off the train.)

 Rule:   Never get into a city on the day of a deposition.  It is too stressful with factors such as weather, traffic or weird situations arising that might make me late for my deposition.  It is best to arrive the night before.  Since I am carrying so much court reporting gear, I don’t pack much in the way of personal items.  What you see when I get off the plane is what you get at the deposition.

Tully’s Coffee in the Embarcadero 2 building is where I go before my job.  I sip coffee, look at my iPad and get the San Franciscan feeling flowing through my body.  Everyone at Tully’s looks smart and interesting.  I bet they have exciting lives.

 For larger cases, I will go in the day before and do my setup.  I leave my machine and most of my equipment, only carrying my laptop away from the conference room.  I check the deposition room for a Polycom if we are going to be having people call in, look for connectivity so that I can be online, and if we are streaming, I check firewalls.     When I am able to set up the day before and check out the room, I always feel more confident the morning of the deposition.  Any problems have been troubleshot. 

I enjoy writing, so being at a deposition is kind of fun for me.  If I am lucky enough to be in a conference room with big picture windows overlooking the famous San Francisco Bay, I will spend my day looking at Angel Island wondering if they are really going to build a movie studio there or if it is just rumor.  I heard George Lucas bought it.  Then I will focus on Alcatraz and imagine escaping and having to swim to shore – hoping not to get caught. 

 When it is time to go home to San Diego, I get back on the BART, head for the end of the line (SFO), and think to myself, “I am so happy I get to be a court reporter and have an interesting, exciting life.”  Even if it is just for one or two days, I love being a part of the City – SAN FRANCISCO.

 @rosaliekramm  Twitter

On our Kramm Court Reporting Facebook page, my friend Terry posted a request that I blog about being a new court reporter and getting nervous at depositions.

Remembering back (circa 1981) I was super nervous when I first started out as a court reporter.  Every morning I woke up scared and excited.  I loved being assigned to a deposition, having a law firm or doctor’s office to go to, swearing in a witness, and pounding on my steno keys.  But then I was at the same time scared.  I worried that I would get lost, not find a place to park downtown, miss a word, or drop a phrase.  

Here are 9 tips to help squelch the nerves:

1. The first rule I adopted was “the two-hour rule.”  I always set my alarm clock to wake me up at least two hours before my deposition/hearing was scheduled to begin.  In the early days I remember running late because of bad traffic, not finding a good place to park, a broken heel…  I believe everyone can relate, if you are running late, your day is probably not going to be super great, and you will be on edge before you get to your job.   So my first bit of advice to Terry is get to your job 30 – 45 minutes early. 
2. Because you are 30 – 45 minutes early, you will have time to systematically set up, get organized, grab a cup of coffee, and relax.  Plus you might get your hands on a pleading or interrogatories, something, and you will be able to start building your job dictionary.
3. If you are assigned to report a doctor or expert, Google the person the night before your deposition.  Read what their expertise is and at the very least get into your dictionary what colleges they went to and what degrees they received.  You know the attorneys are going to ask about their background.  Put the names of their past employers in your dictionary; make up a brief or two of past companies the witness worked for. When you see everything translating beautifully, you are going to sit up in your chair with a little smile on your face feeling proud of your writing (confidence builder).
4. Make up briefs for generic objections:  vague and ambiguous; calls for speculation; not calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence; calls for a legal conclusion. 
5. The reason you want to have as few strokes as possible for objections is because they are rarely going to be read back.  It is the question before the objection that is going to be read back.  So make up your mind you are going to totally get the question – hang on.  You can trail on the objection(s) because you have your briefs.  The objections will give you time to catch up.
6. Reading back long answers.  The other time you are going to be asked to read back is for long answers or answers that are a little convoluted.  These are tough – even after 28 years of reporting these are sometimes tough to read back.  If an answer is getting away from you, you are trailing, keep hanging on, but if it gets away from you, say politely, “Excuse me.  I need to hear that part of the answer again.  I left off at (then read back where you last were before you lost it).”  It should be very rare that you have to stop someone in the middle of an answer (or stop someone in the middle of a question).  But if you do lose it, always be polite, firm, and professional.  No squeaky voice or look of fear.
7. If a witness is constantly interrupting and starting to answer before the whole question is out, give the witness and attorney a “look.”  Raise your eyebrows, look confused, look angry.  If it happens more than three times, wait for a pause between Q&A and say, “Excuse me.  May we go off the record for a second?”  Wait for agreement.  Then say to the witness, “I really need you to stop interrupting the attorney.  It is making a very bad record.”  Typically, at that point, the attorneys will admonish the witness and tell him/her to knock it off. 
8. If the attorney is interrupting the witness, try to live through it.  You can give everyone “the look.”  At the first break, you might say, “Wow!  No more coffee for you.  This is tough because you are talking when the witness is still answering.  I don’t know if you realize that.  Phew.”  You don’t want to anger your client (they are typically not conscious of what they are doing if they are interrupting the witness), so you have to use a little humor or finesse to get your point across and let them know they are creating a messy record.
9. Fighting!  If attorneys are in the mood to fight, they are going to fight.  Separate yourself from the event and truly become Switzerland.  Everyone in the room is going to rely on you to be the level-headed voice of reason.  If one person yells at you to read back, and the other yells that the court reporter is not going to read back, let them yell at each other for a while.  Then slowly you can say, “Counsel, I will read back when no one is speaking because I have to stay on the record whenever anyone is speaking.”    When I make a statement on the record, I always write it on my machine and then later put it in the transcript.  If I am saying something on the record, it is very much on purpose and I stroke the machine with emphasis when I speak, bang, bang, bang, and speak in a computer-type voice to get their attention. 

Bottom line:  I can’t imagine anyone not being nervous their first year or two in the court reporting field.  There are always new challenges, more difficult jobs, different personalities thrown at you every day.  Be prepared.  Keep moving forward.  Don’t let fear get in the way of being great or accepting new and unusual assignments.  The days that are the most difficult are the days you are going to learn the most.  “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger,” is one of my favorite sayings.  One day you will wake up only feeling the excitement of being a court reporter – no fear.

Good Luck, Young Court Reporters!  Be Strong!

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

I received a Tweet from a court reporting student who missed her 80 wpm test last week by 1 word (.25 of a point).  She wrote in her Tweet “Try again next week.  My psych is down.  Send Help!”  All court reporting students and court reporters out in the working world understand the feeling of being so close to perfection, and yet misstroking a brief or dropping a word and then “freaking” out or having a “psych” that is down.  Court reporters are perfectionists, and we can be very hard on ourselves – but being a perfectionist is often a trait that makes a great court reporter.  

I want my Twitter friend who came so close to passing her 80 wpm test to know she is GREAT and better than she knows.  If a person is languishing in a speed class for months at a time, super close to passing the speed tests week after week, but not passing, I would argue that you are too much in your head and you’re not letting your fingers do the work; that your mind is getting in the way (too much thinking).  To take a test and not pass by .25 of a point means you are able to write the speed.  The fact that you are in a particular speed for another week or two because you did not pass a test does not mean that you are becoming a slower writer.  In my mind it means you are becoming a stronger writer at that speed.  You will be more ready for the next speed class.  So don’t beat yourself up about missing a test.  (I know it is easier said than done – I used to drive to the bay and cry during court reporting school when I barely missed a test.) 

Young court reporters new in the profession sometimes will have the same experience of taking a deposition, getting 98 percent of everything perfectly, and then not being able to read one or two strokes.  They learn to figure it out, move forward, and become more experienced writers.  I know some young court reporters that have given up on themselves early, don’t try to take “hard jobs” and only want depositions that are “easy to write.”  Those court reporters are selling themselves short and are selling our profession short.  We need strong, realtime writers out in the field. 

So, my Twitter friend, be energized and excited to take the speed test next week.  Know you are able to write the speed.  Be strong.  Be confident.  I believe you, court reporting students, and court reporters out in the field are all better than they know.

@rosaliekramm  Twitter

Watching the Women’s World Cup this summer was in many ways emotional for me because I knew the women who were great enough to play in the Cup have had to be talented, strong, and disciplined.  Only a couple of decades ago, women were not allowed to play soccer; and the ones that did were considered “odd,” particularly in many European, Asian, and Middle Eastern Countries – and even the USA and Canada.  I remember all too well.

Before each game, when the USA team walked onto the field following the referees, alongside their competition, I watched the demeanor of the players, the way they walked, and the look in their eyes.  They were determined to win.  As my colleague, firm owner Toni Pulone wrote me, “They are all fabulous players, no doubt, but you have to almost believe that they (USA) keep winning because they will it to happen.  They will never give up.  That level of spirit and confidence is remarkable and contagious.  I should watch a replay of their games every day to keep me going.”

Toni’s description of the players and their spirit and confidence is in many ways the same traits that make up great court reporters.  Going to school and building your speed is like learning the basic skills of soccer.  Passing a qualifier that allows one to take the state test is like winning your first soccer tournament.  Becoming a licensed court reporter is like being a professional soccer player.  Then becoming a CRR, CCRR, realtime specialist, merit writer, CVLS is analogous to becoming a professional goal scorer or goalkeeper or defensive midfielder… 

Then comes the “World Cup” where great court reporters shine and work in complex business litigation, patent law; they produce dailies, write flawless realtime, and love the feeling of accomplishment and being the best.

In the past women were not allowed to play soccer, and strong women like Mia Hamm had to be super great so the world would take notice.  In the future court reporters need to be super great because there are going to be people with machines and budget cuts that would “not allow” court reporters to work.  I believe it would be wonderful if all court reporters could feel like every deposition, hearing, court day, arbitration is like being in the World Cup and go in with a steely determination of WINNING by being super great.

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)